Chapter thirteen: Dinner à la Dana
Like every friday morning Lara stood at her working station in the country club's kitchen, doing the prep work for the rest of the day. While she was cutting tomatoes, the sous chef hummed a happy song to herself, well aware of the weird looks her co-workers were giving her. They were used to their sous chef being in a good mood most of the time, but recently Lara literally glowed, smiling goofy smiles, humming happy tunes, daydreaming.
"Lara, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a customer who wants to speak to you.", Simon, the waiter and a friend to Lara, addressed the chef, causing her to stop her song.
She turned towards the smaller man, not in the mood to argue with a customer about food when all she wanted to do was daydream about her girlfriend. "Why me, Simon?", she asked, her voice dripping with annoyance. "Can't anyone else do that?"
Simon shook his head. "No, Lara, the lady asked for the sous chef and that would be you, right?"
Lara sighed in defeat. "Yeah, that would be me.", she said. "This lady, what does she want? Breakfast hasn't even started."
"She didn't tell me.", Simon said with a huge grin on his lips, grabbing Lara by the shoulders and pushing her towards the swinging doors leading to the dining area. "Why don't you go find out yourself?"
The redhead sighed again. She knew how the club's costumers could be when they didn't like the food. Some would just order a new plate, some would tell her what was wrong with their meal and in the worst case they would argue with her. Lara really wondered why this lady felt the need to talk to her that early in the morning, since breakfast wouldn't start for another hour. Reaching the dining area, she found the room completely empty.
"Strange.", she whispered, shaking her head. "Very funny, Simon."
Suddenly, the chef felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist from behind and kisses placed on her neck. Knowing it was Dana, Lara couldn't help but smile. "So, you are the lady who asked for the sous chef, Dana.", she said, turning in the embrace and coming face to face with her girlfriend.
"How did you know it was me?", Dana asked, smiling up at the taller woman.
"The hands and the kisses told me, you know.", the chef answered, her forehead touching the other woman's. "No one else touches me like that."
The tennis player blushed slightly at her words, looking insanely cute.
"So, I hear you wanted to talk to the sous chef?", Lara asked, breaking the hug.
Dana nodded, her eyes taking in every detail of Lara-or so it seemed to the chef. "Yes, I do.", the brunette said, finally locking her eyes onto her girlfriend's. "And I gotta tell you, Lara, you kinda look like you just killed someone.", she added, pointing towards the chef's apron.
The redhead grinned and looked down herself. Noticing the red spots all over her once white apron and chef's jacket, she started to giggle lightly. "Are you scared of me now, Dana?", she joked.
The tennis player raised her brows. "Do I have a reason to be?"
Lara thought for a moment, watching the amused smile on her girlfriend's lips. "Well, you never know what I might do to you while you're asleep.", she said, trying to sound dangerous.
Dana took a step backwards, obviously playing along, giving a shocked face. "You wouldn't hurt me, would you?"
There was a short silence, both women looking at each other with shining eyes.
"No, I wouldn't.", the sous chef finally said, closing the distance between them again and pulling the smaller woman into a hug. "But there are other things, you know, pleasurable things...", she whispered into Dana's ear.
The athlete blushed at the words and broke the hug again, clearing her throat. "Well, Lara...", she began, sounding as nervous as ever. "Would you like to come over tonight after work?"
The chef smiled. "I would love to, Dana. Do you want me to bring something for dinner?", she asked at which Dana shook her head.
"No, let me take care of that, Lara.", the athlete said with a smile. "Oh, could you bring one of those chef's uniforms, too?"
-
After saying her goodbye to Dana, Lara made her way back into the kitchen, grinning happily. Seeing Dana had made her feel ecstatic, her heart pounding in her chest, the butterflies going wild in her stomach. Lara picked up the abandoned knife to go back to cutting tomatoes when Simon leaned over her shoulder. The chef inwardly shook her head at this, knowing how curious Simon could be.
"So?", the waiter began, his curiousity showing in his voice.
The redhead sighed and turned around, coming face to face with the black haired man. "So what?", she asked, trying to sound annoyed.
Simon grinned. "You seem awfully happy after a discussion with a customer, don't you, Lara?", he teased.
Lara shrugged. "Well, maybe the lady praised my cooking?", she said, keeping her voice indifferent.
The waiter cocked a brow, moving closer to the sous chef until his mouth was level with her ear. "Or maybe she praised you for last night?", he whispered, stepping back a little.
Lara could feel the temperature in her cheeks going up as she blushed a deep crimson, the color of her face matching her hair, turning her eyes away from her friend. She tried to come up with something to respond, but the words wouldn't come to her.
"So she did praise you for last night, huh?", Simon said before he started to laugh.
"Fuck you, Simon.", the redhead muttered, looking up again and throwing a cold glare at the black haired man.
Holding up his hands in defence, Simon stopped laughing, his brown eyes watching the chef carefully. "I'm sorry, Lara, I was just teasing.", he apologized.
"Alright, apology accepted.", Lara said, smiling again.
--
Around quarter to eleven Lara stood outside Dana's house, feeling just a little tired from work. As promised she had brought along one clean chef's uniform, wondering what Dana wanted to use it for. Maybe she had developped a fetish for these uniforms and wanted to use it in some kind of roleplay? The redhead had to admit that that thought sounded very hot. She rang the bell again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other while waiting for her girlfriend to let her in.
"Hey, how are you?", the tennis player greeted her when she opened the door, smiling one of her cutest smiles.
"Oh, I'm a little tired from work, but fine.", the chef answered, returning the smile.
Dana stepped aside, gesturing the taller woman to come in.
"So, have you ordered dinner yet, Dana? I'm starving.", Lara asked once they had reached the living room, but the athlete only shook her head-much to Lara's surprise. "You didn't?"
"No, I remember telling you that I'd take care of it.", Dana said, sounding totally calm. "Did you bring the chef's uniform?"
The chef was puzzled. What did the other woman have in mind? Lara kept looking at her girlfriend, not reacting to her question.
"Lara, did you bring the uniform?", the brunette repeated her question.
"Huh?" Lara snapped out of her trance-like state and held out the bag she was carrying. "Yeah, it's in here."
With a huge grin on her lips Dana took the offered bag and disappeared, mumbling a low "Thank you". The redhead stared after her, still having no idea what Dana might be planning. She let out a soft sigh and decided to wait for Dana's return. Maybe she'd tell her then.
-
Ten minutes later-Lara sat on the couch, going through some sports magazine she had found on the table-Dana still hadn't returned from wherever she had disappeared to. Suddenly, Lara heard a door fall closed and looked up from the magazine, tossing it back on the table. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Dana reenter the living room. The tennis player was dressed in the white chef's uniform, completing the look with a chef's hat and a stripy apron. The uniform looked a little oversized due to Dana being smaller than Lara, but Lara didn't mind in the least. She actually found it rather cute.
"Now, what do you think?", Dana asked, standing in the doorway.
Lara didn't respond. She just smiled at her girlfriend and got up from the couch. Closing the distance between them with a few steps, the redhead pulled the athlete into a hug. As soon as the hug ended, their lips met in a soft kiss.
"Could I pass as chef, Lara?", the brunette asked again, causing Lara to smile.
"Well, you do look like a chef, Dana, but I don't know about your cooking abilities...", the sous chef said. She was still amazed how stunningly gorgeous the other woman looked in a chef's uniform. But then again Dana did look amazing in almost everything, so it couldn't be the uniform.
"I'm gonna be honest with you, Lara...", Dana started after a short silence. "I'm not half as good as you when it comes to cooking, but I don't think I'm that bad. So, don't worry, my food isn't going to poison you."
Lara did a mock sigh, earning herself a nudge on her shoulder. "Oh, so you are gonna play chef tonight, huh?", she asked with a little chuckle attached to her voice, finally realizing what Dana had in mind.
Dana nodded, a proud smile on her lips. Once again she was looking just adorable to Lara and so the taller woman moved down to get herself another kiss.
"And what does the chef recommend for the day?", the redhead asked playfully.
"It's a surprise, Lara. You will have to wait.", was all Dana answered before she walked off again.
Left by herself once again, the sous chef took her former position on the couch again and went back to read the sports magazine.
-
"Fuck!" The loud curse caused Lara to look up from the magazine. She didn't know what had happened in the kitchen that had caused Dana to curse and felt worry come over herself. Cooking could be dangerous, Lara knew from experience. She just had to look at the back of her right hand to see the proof, another burn-thankfully only second-degree -from uncontrolled hot fat. Just thinking back at the incident hurt. Lara jumped from the couch and ran into the kitchen to check if Dana was alright. She found the athlete sitting on a chair, her head in her hands, but seemingly safe.
"Dana, is everything okay?", the chef asked, her voice full of concern.
Dana muttered something Lara couldn't make out, keeping her head in her hands. Slowly Lara walked over to her, kneeing down next to her chair once she had reached her.
"Dana, what happened?", she asked, her voice still concerned.
When she didn't get an answer, the sous chef grabbed Dana's hands into her own, forcing the other woman to look at her. To her relief the brunette didn't seem to be in pain, but rather embarrassed about something. Lara let out a deep sigh, giving a reassuring smile. Then she noticed the red sauce covering huge parts of Dana's white uniform.
"I can't even cook a lousy tomato sauce.", the tennis player finally spoke, shaking her head. "First I put too much salt in it, making it taste like..." Dana pulled a disgusted face. "...and then it spills over or should I say, explodes like I planted some kinda bomb at the bottom of the pot." The tennis player sounded really distressed. Lara hushed her, wrapping her arms around her. She was finding it funny how Dana freaked out about a common kitchen accident-at least to her-but she also wanted to cheer the smaller woman up again, hating to see her so distressed.
"It's okay, Dana.", Lara told the athlete, her voice calm and tender. "Things like that happen to me all the time and I'm a sous chef, you know. Once I was making mousse au chocolat and I ended up using salt instead of sugar." Now Lara was the one pulling a disgusted face, recalling the awful taste. "God, it tasted like shit and the head chef got so mad at me."
Dana smiled a little. "Really?"
"Yes, he was totally running on adrenaline that day, because we had to prepare the menue for some family-get-together and when I messed up the dessert, he kinda reached his boiling point and released his anger on me.", the redhead explained. She could still hear the head chef's words ringing in her ears when she thought back at that day:
"Are you completely insane? Do you want to ruin us all? Do you think this is funny? We don't have time for jokes, Miss Perkins, so you better pull yourself together. These people are important financiers. You are risking your job here and not just your job, Miss Perkins."
"Oh, poor baby.", Dana said in her cutest voice, causing Lara to smile.
The sous chef pulled the other woman from her sitting position and looked around the kitchen, deciding to fix the mess. "How about you go and get out of this uniform, while I try and fix some dinner.", she suggested.
Dana tried to protest. "No, you don't have to. I crea..." She didn't get to finish her sentence, since Lara placed a kiss on her lips.
"No complaints. Go!", the redhead demanded, pointing towards the door.
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at kickboxing.gurl: Thank you. Hope you keep your obsession with this story.
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at WolfgalX: I totally agree with you about the teddy bear thing and I'm glad you had fun reading the chapter.